Tonya Oaks Smith

Director of Communications
BA, 1994, LSU; MA, 2010, UALR

Tonya Oaks Smith serves as Director of Communications for the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. In this role, she manages the communications, marketing, and public relations strategies of the law school in accordance with its mission, objectives, directives, and policies. She approaches communications at Bowen dynamically and developed Bowen’s communication and marketing strategies using social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Smith serves on UALR’s Campus Campaign Steering Committee, working with others to encourage employees to donate to the university. She completed her second year as chairperson in 2011. In addition, she is a member of the Foundation Fund Board for Youth Home, an organization dedicated to helping troubled adolescents become healthy, strong adults. She is vice president for outreach for the International Association of Business Communicators – Arkansas Chapter and a member of the board of directors for the HighEdWeb Association.

Smith graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in English and completed her master’s degree in applied communication studies in UALR’s Department of Speech Communication. Her master’s research focused on the use of Twitter to communicate information about the 2009 H1N1 virus outbreak. Smith brings 16 years of experience as a journalist to the position of communications director.

Before joining UALR as a public relations coordinator in 2006, Smith worked for Acxiom Corporation as an internal communications specialist. She began her career as a reporter covering just about anything – including sports – and moved through the newsroom ranks as reporter, news editor, and managing editor for weekly and daily newspapers in Louisiana.

(2010, Oct. 12). Video killed the radio star but it could help you meet your goals. Presentation with Aaron Street at the 2010 HighEdWeb Association Conference. Cincinnati, Ohio.

(2010, Nov. 16). Recipe for an engaging and results-driven email newsletter. Webinar presented as part of the Email newsletters 360: How to publish email newsletters that get read series for Higher Ed Experts.

(2011, June 13). A little birdie told me – what the H1N1 outbreak taught us about using Twitter. Presentation at the 2011 Web Conference at Penn State. State College, Pennsylvania.

(2011, June 13). WordPress for fun and profit the sake of your sanity. Presentation with Shelley Keith at the 2011 Web Conference at Penn State. State College, Pennsylvania.

(2011, June 27). The Joneses: communication networks to do your dirty work. Presentation at the 2011 HighEdWeb New York Regional Conference. Rochester, New York.